PIERRE, S.D - Attorney General Marty Jackley today warned consumers to watch for emails that claim to be from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), but are actually scams designed to obtain personal identifying information. Consumers should proceed with caution when visiting websites that either associate themselves with the IRS or have the appearance of the IRS site.

“The IRS does not communicate with individuals via email with tax filing problems or refunds, so avoid clicking links on suspicious email messages,” said Jackley.

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division has received many examples of these email messages. The email indicates that the ‘IRS’ has identified an error in the calculation of your tax return and want to return the excess payment back to you. In order for them to return the funds, you are asked to create a Tax Gateway account to apply the credit. This is nothing more than a link to access your personal identifying information.

Bogus emails with the words IRS or government tend to make consumers believe they are coming from the federal government. The IRS does not send out unsolicited emails or ask for personal identifying information. If you receive an email that uses the IRS name call the IRS directly at 1-800-829-1040 to verify. The official IRS website is www.irs.gov, but the look-alike sites which use a few different keystrokes are set up to redirect consumers to bogus websites.

If you have been a victim of one of these scams or need any additional information contact the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division at 1-800-300-1986.